Be Different or be dead

May 14, 2012

How do great leaders make incredibly fantastic teams?

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How do great leaders make incredibly fantastic teams?

A critical element of leadership is creating strong teams to get the right things done

Effective teams are effective because they have a leader who has figured out that delivering the right things is the objective. It’s all about execution.

Here are 5 tips to building a strong and effective team.

Create your business plan to standout from your competition — Engage your team in the process.
Let them play an active role in shaping their collective future. Shared visions are more likely to evoke the energy and commitment necessary to execute well.

Top- down direction-setting is required, but should be carefully orchestrated and focused to those areas where leadership must be in control. Shared accountability bonds people together and gives them permission to call on each other when things go off track.

Keep it alive — Teams flourish when they are winning the battle, so the leader’s job is to ‘win a battle every day’. Let everyone know. Share the victory with the team.

Bash internal barriers — Well-oiled teams have a leader who removes obstacles preventing people from getting things done.
Priority #1 is to eliminate the grunge that fosters inertia and stands in the way of advancement. Effective teams are effective only if they execute well.

Be the Chief Barrier Basher for your team.

Translate your strategy for all employees — Paint a picture of what it means to the team and each member of it. Effectiveness comes from every team member working in harmony and having a direct line of sight to the strategy of the organization. Everyone must be moving in the same direction.

The leader’s job is to define roles that eliminate the possibility of dysfunctional activity which gets in the way of progress.

Shout out the people and achievements that show that the strategy is being successfully implemented — Reinforcing the behaviours and people that stand for the new direction will build stronger teams with better performance.

Effective Teams = enlightened leadership = shared vision = flawless execution = shared accountability

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.14.12 at 10:09 am by Roy Osing
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May 10, 2012

Why a person that wins all the time is also a loser

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Most winners are good at losing.

A big winner is probably a big loser.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan

What’s the scoop? Winners tend to be great learners. They do stuff and learn from the results they achieve. Then they try more stuff.

And, as a result they tend to fail alot.

You can’t help but fail if you are constantly trying new things and there are few silver bullets to success out there

It turns out that the absolutely best learning experience is failure.

Failing at something offers the greatest opportunity to learn (as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice which would indicate you didn’t learn anything!)

The best learners have more failures under their belt. They fail often and they learn. They apply what lessons they learn from failing. And they win.

Do you have the guts to fail a lot?

If so, you have the critical ingredient to win. And win big!

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.10.12 at 10:40 am by Roy Osing
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May 7, 2012

Why a successful career requires your hands to get crazy dirty

Source: Pexels

Why a successful career requires your hands to get crazy dirty.

Succeed.

Achieve your goals. Hit your targets. Nail your objectives.

Achieving anything substantial in my experience is an ugly matter.

Rarely do things go as originally planned. Stuff happens as they say.

The unpredictable rears its head. You have to scramble to get back on track. People sometimes don’t cooperate with you or keep their promises to you. It’s messy.

Achieving anything, really is a dirty affair.

The reality is, though, if you are NOT prepared to get dirty, chances are you won’t reach your desired destination.

What does ‘get dirty’ look like?

▪️ Make fast decisions.

▪️ Have Plan B ready-to-go.

▪️ Embrace imperfection. Live it.

▪️ Do it. Try it. Fix it.

▪️ Work late hours.

▪️ Work outside your comfort zone. If you’re not uncomfortable you are playing it too safe and are likely to be called Mr Clean.

▪️ Bend the rules that prevent you from getting it done. Find someone who will protect your back.

▪️ Do what needs to be done. Forget the job description and formal position responsibilities.

▪️ Eat lots of burgers and fries. Fast food fits your personal situation and you need all the comfy food you can get.

▪️ Make mistakes. Lots of ‘em but make sure you learn something from each and every one of them.

Clean hands typifies someone who conjures up pristine theoretical solutions but has difficulty delivering.

Dirty hands describes the practical person who is prepared to dive into the grunge to deliver.

Want to succeed?

Take a look at your hands.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.7.12 at 08:44 am by Roy Osing
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May 5, 2012

3 important priorities to have when you’re out of time

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3 important priorities to have when you’re out of time.

There is never enough time to do everything possible.

Successful organizations are brilliant at focusing on the critical few things they need to get done right.

They don’t get caught up chasing possibilities. There are many things you COULD do (are fun and comfortable) but there are usually only a handful of things that really matter to your success.

People can only really do three things well at the same time (ok maybe four but NOT ten).

Here are three things that I have found really matter if you are challenged with limited resources and time:

Rule #1 - BE mindlessly focused on your loyal customers

Know who they are. What they desire. Ask them to get involved in your business. Ask them for advice. Treat them special. Help connect them with each other and with you. NEVER offer a special promotion or deal to try and entice new customers; offer the best deals to your loyal customers first.

Your success is a function of how well you treat people who are loyal to you. Take care of them and they will return the favor.

Rule #2 - BE the ONLY ones who do what you do

If your business doesn’t have an ONLY Statement, you don’t have a competitive position. And you will be indistinguishable from the herd. And you will be invisible. And you won’t attract business. And you will most likely fail and die.

It’s a tough job, but spend whatever time it takes to build your ONLY: “We are the ONLY ones that….”. Pure uniqueness in the market gets rewarded. A member of the faceless herd does not.

Rule #3 - Create VALUE for your fans and be more than a product play

Flogging products is what the herd does. Competing on product features is what they do. Offering discounted prices. Copying best of breed (the best cow is still a cow, right?).

Change the rules of engagement. Break out of the herd. Create stuff that delights people. Leaves them breathless. Excites them. Surprises them. Makes them happy. Honours them.

When you illicit these feelings you have created value for them. Package stuff together with a single value proposition: you’re not in the moving business; you “move lives” and you could bring together many services under that umbrella.

Look for the impact your product has on people. Don’t simply push the technology or narrow features.

Fans, uniqueness and value. All you need when you know time is running out

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.5.12 at 09:40 am by Roy Osing
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